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Mason: University research brings $3.3 billion to Greater Lansing

– Jeff Mason is the executive director of the University Research Corridor, a research cluster to enhance economic prosperity which includes of Michigan State University, University of Michigan and Wayne State University.
Published 5:34 a.m. ET Feb. 10, 2016

Every county in the state benefits from the economic impact of Michigan’s leading research universities, as demonstrated by the University Research Corridor’s 9th Annual Economic Impact Report, released last week.

The URC, an alliance of Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, began measuring economic impact and other key measures at our inception in 2006 in order to establish a benchmark for our universities’ yearly performance. The report also analyzes the activities of similar innovation clusters to help us measure our impact and compare our results to those of our peers from across the country. If you want to be the best, you have to measure yourself against the best.

The report found that the URC contributed an incredible $17.5 billion to Michigan’s economy in 2014, with an impact of $3.3 billion in the Greater Lansing region alone. The universities have proven to be a solid investment for the state of Michigan, with every dollar the state invested in the three URC universities resulting in more than $22 in economic benefits.

Each year the report includes the Innovation Power Ranking, which indexes defining features of major research universities, including talent, R&D and technology commercialization. This ranking features leading innovation clusters from across the nation, including those in Northern and Southern California, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas and Pennsylvania. This year, the URC ranked second on this prestigious list for the third year in a row.

In terms of the production of high-skilled talent, a measure that the URC continually ranks highly in, our three universities conferred 34,141 degrees in 2014 – the most of any peer cluster – including 2,332 medical degrees, the largest number of advanced degrees in the medicine and biological science fields of any peer university innovation cluster.

The URC’s contributions to the depth and breadth of high-skilled individuals with a four-year degree and beyond make our state stronger by attracting businesses and making us a competitor in the global economy.

Another measure of this competitiveness is the transfer of research and development into the marketplace – the institutions’ ability to take research out of the lab and into the real world. The URC surpassed its five-year average for the number of patents issued, licensing and options activity, and invention disclosures, for the third straight year.

The report also found:

Since 2002, the three URC universities have cultivated 188 start-up companies, including 71 which have formed in the past five years.

As of summer 2015, the URC universities had more than 1.2 million alumni worldwide. The 629,000 living in Michigan account for more than 9 percent of the state’s population over age 24.

More than $2.1 BILLION in research and development last year, accounting for more than 94% of all academic R&D in the state of Michigan.

The key findings of the Economic Impact Report demonstrate the tremendous assets these three world-class research institutions are to our state’s economy, and to the lives and livelihoods of everyone in our state. You can see the entire report at www.urcmich.org

– Jeff Mason is the executive director of the University Research Corridor, a research cluster to enhance economic prosperity which includes of Michigan State University, University of Michigan and Wayne State University.